Latin chants sounded across the Vatican as a long procession of red-hatted cardinals, bishops in violet capes and Swiss Guards in striped uniforms accompanied Francis’ body from his residency to St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday.
Death knells tolled, and thousands of people lined up for hours in the Vatican to see the pontiff, who died on Monday morning at 88.
“This pope was special, and I wanted to say goodbye,” said Natalia Zoni, 51, who left her home in Tuscany at dawn to travel to Rome. Tears welled in her eyes as she stood in front of the pope’s coffin, and she said, “Thank you,” to Francis, who lay in front of Bernini’s giant bronze canopy.
The pope wore simple black leather shoes — which had become a hallmark of his unpretentious style — as he lay beneath the golden vault of the basilica.
The crowds, pressed tightly together, flowed past Michelangelo’s Pietà, and then thronged in front of Francis’ simple wooden casket. Some crossed themselves, and most held up their smartphones to take a picture of the pope. Reporters trying to get a better view were scolded for standing on an ornate marble balustrade that bounded the press area.
Francis’ body — dressed in papal vestments, with a white bishop’s miter on his head — will lie in state at St. Peter’s Basilica for several days to allow the faithful to bid farewell. On Wednesday, the Vatican said that the basilica might stay open after midnight because of the high turnout — 20,000 so far, according to estimates by the Vatican.
As the night fell on Rome, a long line of mourners — children, nuns, tourists and others — still waited outside the illuminated basilica. Street vendors in St. Peter’s square sold rosary boxes, magnets and other paraphernalia with Francis’ face on them.
The pope’s coffin will be closed on Friday night, and the funeral will take place on Saturday, with international leaders among those expected to attend.
Many of the mourners who flanked the Vatican’s walls on Wednesday said that they wanted to pay their respects to a pope who they felt had gone out of his way to exit the Vatican’s palaces and be with the people.
“It was the least I could do to come here and say thank you,” said Nadia Panno, 60, who had driven for about 70 miles and stood in a long line holding her crutches.
Enrico Molinari, 84, dressed in a suit for the occasion, took an early train from his home outside Rome, then a bus, to say goodbye to Francis.
“We know his soul is no longer here,” Mr. Molinari said. “But I want to pay tribute to his person.”
Giuseppina Bencini was attending on her 88th birthday. “I felt a lump in my throat when I saw him,” she said, as her eyes grew cloudy.
Lorenzo Fontana, a conservative politician who is president of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Italian Parliament, knelt by Francis’ coffin and crossed himself.
On Wednesday afternoon, 103 cardinals who were already in Rome gathered for a meeting in the Vatican’s apostolic palace, at which they nailed down the details for the nine-day mourning period that follows the pope’s death, a series of masses that will start with the funeral.
The pope’s death came during the year of the Roman Catholic Church Jubilee, so Catholics from all over the world have been flocking to Rome for the event. Some of these pilgrims managed to catch a glimpse of the pope on his last Easter Sunday. Others had come hoping to see him, but they arrived too late.
Many of the people who lined up for hours to see Francis came from places far from the Vatican, a testament to the pope’s outreach to what he called “the peripheries.”
Among them were Delta Canela and Marian Manalo, both 63 and from the Philippines.
“The Philippines were very close to his heart,” Ms. Canela said. Ms. Manalo, her friend, agreed.
“With Pope Francis,” she said, “we always felt loved.”
